Some samples of apartments in China.

When you apply to EPIK they like to pretend that everyone gets an amazing modern apartment. The reality is that the apartment you get is completely random, and often it's a weird decrepit typical Korean apartment. I'm sure there's a wide range of apartments in China too but I wouldn't assume that everyone gets the same modern apartment.

When you apply to EPIK they like to pretend that everyone gets an amazing modern apartment. The reality is that the apartment you get is completely random, and often it's a weird decrepit typical Korean apartment. I'm sure there's a wide range of apartments in China too but I wouldn't assume that everyone gets the same modern apartment.

The people who have shit modern apartments

a) prob aren't going to brag on youtube about it
b) if they do make  youtube vid about it, it might not be as popular as a "nice apt" video. Unless it's a sty, those always get views.

Dem risk and danger times in the rough-and-ready Korea of 2005. Back then you were moving to an industrialized country in the OECD and didn't know what the hell you were getting into.

People would point and stare, and there were bad bosses that would rip-off workers which is unheard of in Des Moines, IA

I'll tell you out in the provinces, it felt more like a developing country.  Lots of shabby run down buildings too.  The rule of law was not always followed.  Cops and the legal system never took your side in any dispute with a Korean.  Immigration, the labor board if they were friends with your hakwon owner, gave you the boot and ruled in their favor and not yours.  Government officials were constantly trying to get rid of foreign teachers and their "cultural" problems. 

  Cops and the legal system never took your side in any dispute with a Korean.

What first hand experience do you have of this?

What first hand experience do you have of this?

Antarctica is extremely cold.  What first hand experience do you have with this?  You can't say it is cold then since you were never there.  You must not be believed under any circumstance.

Your snarky remark aside, that was the way Korea rolled, unless all those people were lying and even foreign investors use to complain about this years ago too.  But since you must know, I did have a friend who went through a divorce and the judge tried to screw him and even said he didn't want to deal with foreigners.  His wife was Korean.  However, he had some connections to some folks and he found a way to get the prosecutors to drop the charges and he told me he had to get him a nice "gift" afterwards.  He had money, was a lawyer in America, and wasn't an English teacher.  If he were and had limtied resources, he would have gotten screwed.  He had good lawyers also and he was going to file a complaint against the judge.  At any rate the open contempt shown.  He also told me he had foreign business friends and they complained about the one sidedness of the legal system back then.  Get in a dispute with a Korean and you would always lose, unless you were very very wealthy. 

foreign investors use to complain about this years ago too

i'm sorry. i really try not to be this person. but i've seen you make this exact mistake like 10 times in the past week and i feel compelled to let this one be the last.

"used to"

Wait a minute... Prosecutors don't file charges in a divorce case. Either it's a criminal case the divorce is irrelevant, or a divorce case, for which no prosecutors should be involved. Which was it?

Did he? What was the outcome? Wouldn't he have implicated himself in the bribe since he told you that he paid it?

Was he a practicing lawyer in Korea? If not, what was he doing here? Just curious.

Yeah, I guess I didn't mention the side story.  She started some shit together with her dad and then he had to drive off staying safe.  He deliberately jumped on the car as he drove off to create extra drama for revenge.  Dad was also a sixth degree black belt.  So another trial going on at the same time.  Was over a decade ago.  Anyways, he got the charges dropped due to some advice from Korean lawyers he knew.  He worked as a common law professor and did some common law legal consulting.  He was a lawyer in America.  Anyways, he got the charges dropped from the prosecutor and had to give him a "nice gift". 

You haven't been here for very long if you don't know how Korea worked until very recently.  Corruption was rampant throughout society.  Heck, a province a friend was working in, the education superintendant took off with a bunch of money and went into hiding due to bribery or something.  This was in the 2000's decade.  Park Guen Hye and other past governments, too.  Connections, what do the Chinese call it - Guangshi?  (I have no clue of the spelling.)  Most East Asian cultures have corruption built into them.  Korea has been cleaning it up in some ways in recent years though. 

No one gives a rats ass except for nerds.

...and English teachers, ESL teachers, anyone looking to hire an English or ESL teacher, anyone looking to learn from an English or ESL teacher.

... rat's ass.

...and English teachers, ESL teachers, anyone looking to hire an English or ESL teacher, anyone looking to learn from an English or ESL teacher.

... rat's ass.

I teach speaking and use spell check on ppts and handouts.  Get back to the drawing board. 

I teach speaking and use spell check on ppts and handouts.  Get back to the drawing board. 

No problem at all, that sounds like a 2.1mil won a month kind of job.

shit i guess the students are lucky you don't teach grammar. unfortunately, neither powerpoint nor word find any problem with "I use to like chicken," despite it being wrong.

Yeah, I guess I didn't mention the side story.  She started some shit together with her dad and then he had to drive off staying safe.  He deliberately jumped on the car as he drove off to create extra drama for revenge. 

Uhh..... I think this seems like a situation where we might be 1) Aren't getting the whole story and 2) There's a different side to this story.

I have no idea what he was wrapped up in.

I do know that one complaint Koreans have is that foreigners often get treated more leniently and that they get a bunch of special perks (some of these aren't justified at all, others do have some merit). The grass is always greener...

Uhh..... I think this seems like a situation where we might be 1) Aren't getting the whole story and 2) There's a different side to this story.

I have no idea what he was wrapped up in.

I do know that one complaint Koreans have is that foreigners often get treated more leniently and that they get a bunch of special perks (some of these aren't justified at all, others do have some merit). The grass is always greener...

Nope.  English teachers get in a fight with a Korean, even self defence, they get charged.  Cops always take the Koreans side.  A foreign girl gets raped, at least until recently, the cops often deliberately bungled the evidence and before never even wanted to investigate the crime.

Nope.  English teachers get in a fight with a Korean, even self defence, they get charged.  Cops always take the Koreans side.  A foreign girl gets raped, at least until recently, the cops often deliberately bungled the evidence and before never even wanted to investigate the crime.

Well, a lot of these stories, frankly, aren't as one-sided in what transpired as are related. The people I've seen who tend to get into these incidents often have some sort of preceding altercation and may be doing some pretty obnoxious or aggressive things themselves. Usually there's alcohol involved. And yes, there are different laws for assault and self-defense here. Often these stories are told by people who were buzzed at the least and often have a stunning lack of self-awareness. "This cab almost hit me (almost hit means he was driving down a party street and you almost stumbled into him), so I kicked a dent into his door. The cops of course took his side."

Generally, what my experience has been is if you're sober and the Korean person is being aggressive and is a known problem, usually the cops will side with you if you're in the right. Sex assault is far worse, but then Korea is generally shit on sex crimes period.

Well, a lot of these stories, frankly, aren't as one-sided in what transpired as are related. The people I've seen who tend to get into these incidents often have some sort of preceding altercation and may be doing some pretty obnoxious or aggressive things themselves. Usually there's alcohol involved. And yes, there are different laws for assault and self-defense here. Often these stories are told by people who were buzzed at the least and often have a stunning lack of self-awareness. "This cab almost hit me (almost hit means he was driving down a party street and you almost stumbled into him), so I kicked a dent into his door. The cops of course took his side."

Generally, what my experience has been is if you're sober and the Korean person is being aggressive and is a known problem, usually the cops will side with you if you're in the right. Sex assault is far worse, but then Korea is generally shit on sex crimes period.

You want to make excuses and be an apologist, that's your right to I guess.  No one can take that away from you. 

You want to make excuses and be an apologist, that's your right to I guess.  No one can take that away from you. 

No one is making excuses or being an apologist. I'm just pointing out what is the case when it comes to many of these incidents
1) We're only getting one side of the story and it's the side we are most sympathetic too
2) Alcohol is usually involved
3) Often the person(s) on either side or both sides claiming to be the victims are both at fault at various stages
4) The person communicating to the police is often speaking in English to a non-native speaker, is emotional, and is inebriated and thus it is going to happen that they won't be understood the best
5) The people who seem to repeatedly get into these incidents tend to often represent the rule of "running into assholes all day"
6) If we're getting 2nd or 3rd hand accounts of this, the details have often gotten exaggerated
7)  A first hand re-telling is little better. "What? You didn't mention the fact that you were obnoxiously loud in an Izakaya and the next table asked you to keep your voices down and that's when things kicked off? You think that might have been relevant to why the cops didn't take your side?"

Now don't get me wrong. I have seen cops blatantly taking the side of Koreans without cause, but it is not that often and usually someone else noticing the scene (even a subordinate) will get this look on their face of things being wrong. And of course, I have seen plenty of times where the Korean police take the foreigner's side and show tremendous patience.

No one is making excuses or being an apologist. I'm just pointing out what is the case when it comes to many of these incidents
1) We're only getting one side of the story and it's the side we are most sympathetic too
2) Alcohol is usually involved
3) Often the person(s) on either side or both sides claiming to be the victims are both at fault at various stages
4) The person communicating to the police is often speaking in English to a non-native speaker, is emotional, and is inebriated and thus it is going to happen that they won't be understood the best
5) The people who seem to repeatedly get into these incidents tend to often represent the rule of "running into assholes all day"
6) If we're getting 2nd or 3rd hand accounts of this, the details have often gotten exaggerated
7)  A first hand re-telling is little better. "What? You didn't mention the fact that you were obnoxiously loud in an Izakaya and the next table asked you to keep your voices down and that's when things kicked off? You think that might have been relevant to why the cops didn't take your side?"

Now don't get me wrong. I have seen cops blatantly taking the side of Koreans without cause, but it is not that often and usually someone else noticing the scene (even a subordinate) will get this look on their face of things being wrong. And of course, I have seen plenty of times where the Korean police take the foreigner's side and show tremendous patience.

Get in a fight with a Korean and see what happens especially if they are running off at the mouth in Korean and you are speaking in English who gets listened to and who doesn't.  While I haven't had any problems myself, I don't dismiss others who have had.

Get in a fight with a Korean and see what happens especially if they are running off at the mouth in Korean and you are speaking in English who gets listened to and who doesn't.  While I haven't had any problems myself, I don't dismiss others who have had.

I've had stolen property recovered by the Korean police. In 11 years of hard drinking I've had one fight with a complete stranger, and that guy was off his gourd and fighting half the bar. Otherwise dustups between friends and various group vs. group "hold me back" bench clearing type nonsense. There was some ajosshi who tried to get on my case and punched me in the stomach weaker than some of my 3rd graders. If you want to call that a "fight" go ahead.

Ive seen friends or randoms get into fights and the ones that were acting like assholes, yeah they had things go against them. Of course, them being assholes, they didn't blame themselves. Of course it was racism, not because you first touched some girl without permission, then got into a fight with her bf after he told you to stop all while claiming "she wanted it" And not realizing youre lucky to just be told to pay 500k won.

Other times, no damage done, mutual apologies, people move on. And a few times when people were outright assaulted the cops quickly dealt with it.

If people are habitually encountering the police and getting "bad treatment", as NETs, you have to wonder what they're up to.

Other times, no damage done, mutual apologies, people move on. And a few times when people were outright assaulted the cops quickly dealt with it.

If people are habitually encountering the police and getting "bad treatment", as NETs, you have to wonder what they're up to.

I'm not taking hangook's alarmist, conspiracy theorist side here, but things typically are skewed against the foreigner.

I have 2 friends/acquaintances in the police, one I met at the track who asked me to help him prepare for his police physical exam and the other was a former temp-teacher. I see them now and then. The lady who used to cut my hair is a massive blabbermouth and is married to policeman, she'd constantly complain about her husband to me.

Anyways, here's what I've pieced together:

- If an officer is involved in any kind of incident, they'd have to cut down a whole forest to supply the amount of forms he/she will
  have to fill out. With this in mind, they do everything they can to get both parties to settle or conclude the matter as quickly as
  possible. Worst case, justice takes a back seat.

- There's a HUGE drinking culture within the police.

- The kinds of people who enter the force, particularly in smaller cities/towns, are oftentimes the laziest men looking for a job
  that pays them to park their car out of sight and spend most of their days sleeping.

- If you're blathering on in English after an incident with a Korean, the officer has the authority to make judgement on the spot
  and taking the Koreans side over going through the trouble of translating what you have to say is the path of least resistance.
  Ideally, he's just going to judge by facial expressions and call 50-50 or whatever gets things sorted with the least amount of
  work.

Somehow related, but I find it wise to stay away from places where I'll find lots of drinkers.

I was about to say, those look a lot like my first non school provided apartment, and yeah, 500k/m with 10mill down is *exactly* what I paid for it.

They might be nothing special, but man, they are sooooooooooooooooo much better than your standard EPIK of hagwon provided housing.

*****If you're planning on staying in Korea for more than 2 years, find a nice place to live yourself: the quality of life upgrade is immense.*****

Sadly, in my area, there aren't many options for renting.
I've looked at all the nearby options and they are in worse condition than my current place.
I thought about moving to the city nearby, but it would add a really long commute to work, and I'd have to spend over 240,000won per month to get to school and back.
I think my current apartment, while it has a lot of room and is really close to my schools, I think there is A LOT of hidden mold in places I both can't see and get to, and it seems like it might be the cause of all my health issues over the last year. As, every hospital visit has shown me in the normal/healthy range (other than my weight which should be okay now).